Britain bans Eurotunnel ferry service to France: regulator

27th June 2014, 0 comments

British authorities on Friday ordered Eurotunnel to stop running its ferry service to France on grounds of unfair competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruled in a final report that Eurotunnel, which operates the undersea Channel rail tunnel between France and England, should be barred from continuing its MyFerryLink service from the southern English port of Dover to Calais in northern France.

"Eurotunnel will be given six months to stop running services from the date of an order to that effect," CMA said in a statement.

The MyFerryLink brand came into existence after Eurotunnel had in 2012 acquired the three ferries and related assets of SeaFrance.

MyFerryLink on Friday said it would appeal the ruling.

"We continue fundamentally to disagree with the CMA on a number of critical points. First and foremost we do not consider that the CMA has jurisdiction to review the transaction as a matter of UK merger law," MyFerryLink said in a statement.

"It is also manifestly the case that the CMA's decision, which will reduce choice, is bad for consumers, bad for competition and bad for all those involved in cross-Channel operations."